By Kenneth Wiggins. A ‘Shire Archaeology Book’ Pub. 2003. Price £5.99. Well, I’m a dedicated student of sieges above ground, so the arrival of this small paperback has given me a new and deeper perspective (that’s a pun!) from which to view fortified walls. This is a general interest book, and it is only 56 pages long, but very well illustrated with over 40 prints, line drawings, plans and maps. In Wiggins’ historical approach to the development of mining as a tool in warfare, he moves competently through the sieges of antiquity, goes on to deal with the medieval period including the Sieges of Rochester (1215), of Dover (1216), and of Bedford (1224), along with a brief account of the 100 Years War and both sides of the Crusades. A short chapter on the emergence of the ‘explosive mine’ is particularly good, and he takes the successful use of gunpowder as an aid to bringing down castle walls as far back as Naples in 1495, an interesting account. Wiggins moves on, dealing with Tudor Britain and Ireland, and the many sieges of the early 1600’s. Providing an overview of several Irish sieges, including that of King John’s Castle, Limerick (1642), before progressing fluently to the elegant era of Vauban and on into the modern age. He deals briefly, but most interestingly, with the siegecraft of the American Civil War and the burrowing under the Western Front in WW1. Finally, he provides the reader with a list of some forty suggestions for further reading in this often neglected area of warfare. An enjoyable short book, well written and with a very large number of potential wargames scenarios across the ages in it. It gave me a few ideas, which I must try out; suitable for a solo game too, I suspect. Finally, the ‘Shire Archaeology’ series, which many members will not know I suspect, contains a number of ‘military’ topics, medieval castles, the Revolt of Boudicca, Celtic Warfare (I’ll try to acquire that I think), Roman forts, etc, all of which may prove to have some valuable material hidden in their pages. The Shire web site is at www.shirebooks. co.uk More Book Reviews “The Armourer” (Magazine) Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World Siege Mines and Underground Warfare A ‘Hampshire Paper’ : ACW Naval Battle Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #144 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com